Sources from the Future movement told Asharq Al-Awsat that President Aoun will not be invited to the commemoration ceremony for the 15th anniversary of the martyrdom of Rafic El-Hariri, who was assassinated on February 14th, 2005 by a massive car bomb in Beirut.
The Free Patriotic Movement, including its leader Gibran Bassil, was added to a list of political parties that are not welcome on this occasion, which includes Hezbollah.
The reason for this non-invitation is said to be because the president has turned against the political settlement between the Future bloc of Hariri and his FPM headed by Gebran Bassil; a settlement that had lead to the presidency of Michel Aoun.
Apparently, ever since the resignation of ex-PM Saad El-Hariri on October 29th, there has been a lot of bad blood between the Future Bloc and the FPM.
It could be speculated that when Hariri set the conditions of his reform plan shortly before his resignation, he was expecting that there would be a consensus among other members of the government.
However, that consensus did not take place at the time, despite the fact that the new government would later manage to pass the budget that was proposed by Hariri.
This incident, among many others, could’ve been one of the main drivers behind the resentment between Hariri and the new government.
Most recently, MPs from the Future party have declared that they will not give the government the vote of confidence. They have also claimed that they will form an opposition against the current government but that they will later “decide with who and how.”
This annual event, according to Asharq El-Awsat, is expected to unite all the parties that form the March 14 coalition, which includes the Progressive Social Party, and the Lebanese Forces.
The mentioned political parties have not yet spoken about their level of involvement in this year’s ceremony.
The Lebanese Forces party stated that although they cannot confirm leader Samir Geagea’s attendance, they will “participate through a high-ranking delegation of deputies and ministers.”
